Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-27694

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive who carried out the independent assessment of the energy options open to Scotland, as recommended by the Council of Economic Advisers.

Question reference: S3W-27693

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the independent assessment of the energy options open to Scotland, as recommended by the Council of Economic Advisers, was delivered to the Council of Economic Advisers.

Question reference: S3W-27692

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the independent assessment of the energy options open to Scotland, as recommended by the Council of Economic Advisers, was completed.

Question reference: S3W-27565

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of graffiti and vandalism have taken place in the Lothians region in each month since May 2007, broken down by local authority area.

Information is available on the annual number of crimes of vandalism, malicious damage and malicious mischief recorded by the police. No information is held centrally on a monthly basis. The information for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is given in table 8 of each of the following statistical publications, published by the Scottish Government, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe):

Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2007-08, published in September 2008 (Bib. number 46684)

Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09, published in September 2009 (Bib. number 49313).

Question reference: S3W-27267

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates to be the (a) volume and (b) proportion of food from (i) supermarkets, (ii) households, (iii) restaurants and other eating establishments and (iv) other sources that became food waste in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-27564

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 1 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many direct measures have been issued by procurators fiscal for vandalism in each month since February 2009, broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows the number of charges under Section 52(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 (wilfully or recklessly destroy or damage property), where the initial decision taken by the procurator fiscal was to deal with the offending behaviour by means of a direct measure from March to August 2009.

The figures include only those direct measures that were affected by the provisions in the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) database does not contain information to identify local authority areas and individual jurisdictions do not always match such areas. As a result, the information has been split by procurator fiscal offices.

Charges: Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1) - Direct Measures Issued^{1, 2}

Procurator Fiscal Office	March 2009	April 2009	May 2009	June 2009	July 2009	August 2009
Aberdeen	12	11	9	11	10	10
Airdrie	3	1	9	8	11	10
Alloa	-	-	1	3	5	2
Arbroath	5	4	3	2	5	3
Ayr	11	7	10	3	8	1
Banff	2	-	-	-	11	1
Campbeltown	1	-	1	1	-	2
Cupar	8	30	5	1	2	2
Dingwall	1	-	1	-	2	-
Dornoch	-	1	-	2	-	-
Dumbarton	12	1	1	6	-	8
Dumfries	2	2	5	1	10	7
Dundee	4	5	5	3	5	11
Dunfermline	5	12	12	6	16	3
Duns	1	-	2	2	-	-
Edinburgh	5	10	15	8	4	17
Elgin	2	3	5	5	6	1
Falkirk	6	4	7	19	12	5
Forfar	3	3	2	-	8	-
Fort William	-	1	3	-	-	-
Glasgow	34	18	28	31	37	21
Greenock	-	3	2	2	2	-
Haddington	1	-	-	-	1	-
Hamilton	8	8	12	6	7	3
Inverness	5	1	3	1	2	5
Jedburgh	4	4	-	3	1	1
Kilmarnock	10	7	23	3	11	6
Kirkcaldy	9	10	11	31	20	11
Kirkcudbright	-	2	1	1	3	2
Kirkwall	1	-	-	1	-	-
Lanark	1	1	4	-	-	1
Livingston	8	6	6	2	5	3
Lochmaddy	1	-	-	-	1	-
Oban	1	1	3	1	1	-
Paisley	7	4	12	1	4	6
Peebles	-	1	-	2	1	1
Perth	1	3	3	1	11	2
Peterhead	3	-	1	4	9	1
Rothesay	-	-	-	-	1	-
Selkirk	1	3	3	3	4	3
Stirling	2	4	1	1	1	-
Stonehaven	1	-	4	3	-	4
Stornoway	5	-	-	1	-	1
Stranraer	1	-	-	-	-	-
Tain	1	2	-	1	-	3
Wick	-	1	8	4	6	2
Grand Total	188	174	221	184	243	159

Notes:

1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S3W-27684

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses have properties in Scotland with a combined rateable value of (a) up to £8,000, (b) from £8,001 to £10,000 and (c) from £10,001 to £15,000, broken down by local authority area.

Information on the number and combined rateable value of businesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However, the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties for each of the local authority areas is shown in the following table:

Analysis of The Number of Business Properties in Scotland of Which the Rateable Value is £15,000 or Less (Excluding Zero-rated Subjects)

Local Authority	Number of Business Properties by Rateable Value
Local Authority	Less than £8,000	£8,001 to £10,000	£10,001 to £15,000	Total up to £15,000
Aberdeen City	3,274	540	839	4,653
Aberdeenshire	6,955	490	677	8,122
Angus	3,232	202	319	3,753
Argyll and Bute	6,031	241	339	6,611
Clackmannanshire	995	77	126	1,198
Dumfries and Galloway	6,389	293	438	7,120
Dundee City	2,921	335	561	3,817
East Ayrshire	2,362	231	353	2,946
East Dunbartonshire	1,134	202	265	1,601
East Lothian	2,110	182	246	2,538
East Renfrewshire	840	130	222	1,192
Edinburgh, City of	8,936	1,228	1,945	12,109
Eilean Siar	1,760	61	98	1,919
Falkirk	2,680	281	393	3,355
Fife	7,347	665	1,085	9,097
Glasgow City	11,811	1,632	2,366	15,809
Highland	12,515	618	913	14,046
Inverclyde	1,302	172	227	1,701
Midlothian	1,605	177	262	2,044
Moray	3,082	195	287	3,564
North Ayrshire	3,094	264	400	3,758
North Lanarkshire	4,619	643	914	6,176
Orkney Islands	1,621	70	82	1,733
Perth and Kinross	5,232	370	531	6,133
Renfrewshire	3,359	396	597	4,352
Scottish Borders	5,134	231	405	5,770
Shetland Islands	1,473	67	107	1,647
South Ayrshire	2,797	276	445	3,518
South Lanarkshire	4,963	631	924	6,518
Stirling	2,890	252	392	3,534
West Dunbartonshire	1,492	178	252	1,922
West Lothian	2,678	344	522	3,544
Scotland	126,633	11,675	17,532	155,840

Source: Scottish Assessors Portal as at 9 August 2009.

Notes:

1. The number of businesses will be lower than the number of non-domestic properties in each area, because some businesses have more than one property.

2. The properties shown below may be eligible for, or in receipt of, a number of different reliefs including Small Business Bonus Scheme, Empty Property, Rural or Charitable relief, or may be part of a larger chain or exempt from rates entirely.

Question reference: S3W-27566

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been issued with fines for vandalism in each year since 2006-07, broken down by local authority area.

The available information is given in the following table. The source of this information is the Scottish Government Court Proceedings database, which is derived from data held on the Criminal History System. Prosecution in court is only one of a range of possible options for dealing with an individual who has been charged with an offence. Other actions include the use of fiscal warnings, diversion to social work, fiscal fines and fixed penalty notices. However, these alternatives to court prosecution are not currently held on the Scottish Government Court Proceedings database and are not included in the following data provided.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Vandalism¹ where the Main Penalty was a Court Fine, by Local Authority Area², 2006-07 to 2007-08

Local Authority	2006-07	2007-08
Aberdeen City	120	92
Aberdeenshire	101	102
Angus	59	52
Argyll and Bute	13	26
Clackmannanshire	68	56
Dumfries and Galloway	95	99
Dundee City	71	69
East Ayrshire	100	94
East Dunbartonshire	0	0
East Lothian	50	36
East Renfrewshire	3	11
Edinburgh, City of	135	150
Eilean Siar	16	17
Falkirk	122	132
Fife	236	228
Glasgow City	299	281
Highland	149	154
Inverclyde	11	21
Midlothian	36	40
Moray	56	54
North Ayrshire	52	57
North Lanarkshire	103	77
Orkney Islands	2	2
Perth and Kinross	44	50
Renfrewshire	54	65
Scottish Borders	116	90
Shetland Islands	6	5
South Ayrshire	86	58
South Lanarkshire	98	116
Stirling	63	64
West Dunbartonshire	41	38
West Lothian	55	55
Scotland	2,460	2,391

Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Service.

Notes:

1. Where the main offence under the Scottish Government Justice Department Crime Codes classification is vandalism, malicious damage and malicious mischief.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area and some local authority areas do not contain a sheriff court.

Question reference: S3W-27331

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 28 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the local economy in Edinburgh has benefited from a live music scene in each of the last five years and how this compares with other cities over the same period.

There is no doubt that Scotland''s cities, including Edinburgh, will benefit from having a thriving live music scene. However, defining these benefits in precise economic terms is difficult.

The City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Arts Council, other relevant bodies and local authorities confirm that this information is not collected or held centrally. The reason relates to the difficulty of defining a live music scene and what it can mean in practice.

Question reference: S3W-27447

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many grants have been made under the Cashback for Communities initiative to applicants in each parliamentary constituency in the Lothians region and what the value of each grant was.

CashBack for Communities has funded two grant schemes for the youthwork sector through YouthLink Scotland, from which several grants were made in each of the Lothian local authorities. The grants awarded under the second grant scheme will be announced in November. For the first scheme the following grants were awarded to organisations in the Lothians:

East Lothian
North Berwick Dry Bar Association (Youth Caf©)	£10,587
Tranent Youth and Community Facility	£11,041
Red School Youth Centre	£9,372
Total	£31,000 (3 grants)
Edinburgh
Multi Culture Family Base	£25,977
HayWired Ltd	£10,458
Sergeant of Leith Neighbourhood Action Unit	£18,616
Circle	£22,095
Edinburgh City Youth Caf© “ 6VT Youth Caf©	£15,857
Edinburgh City Youth Caf© “ 6VT Youth Caf©	£9,108
Youth Bus Project “ The Buz	£20,317
Leith Acorn Centre YMCA	£12,319
The BIG Project	£10,473
Pilmeny Development Project	£2,080
Wester Hailes Youth Agency	£6,654
Craigmillar Adventure Project	£22,429
RUTS “ The Rural and Urban Training Scheme Ltd	£8,632
The Ripple Project	£15,890
Sikh Sanjog	£6,688
Citadel Youth Centre	£2,355
The Rock Trust	£4,713
Fairbridge in Edinburgh	£5,339
Total	£220,000 (18 grants)
Midlothian
Gorebridge Community Development Trust	£8,132
Top Service	£4,730
Mayfield and Easthouses Youth Project 2000 Project (Y2K)	£9,337
Midlothian Young Peoples Advice Project (MYPAS)	£10,800
Total	£32,999 (4 grants)
West Lothian
Brigend Senior Youth Club	£12,600
Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council	£9,280
Loganlea Miners Welfare Charitable Society	£9,798
YWCA Livingston	£2,408
Children 1st	£27,441
Edinburgh Cyrenian Trust	£9,461
Total	£70,988 (6 grants)